Uniting to Stop Water Shutoffs and Meet Water Infrastructure Needs During the Pandemic
“Water is a Human Right” photo courtesy of Common Dreams
By Liz Kirkwood
In these challenging times, we are always seeking genuine good news to share. And fortunately, Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered some urgently needed relief in her March 28th Executive Order restoring water service to the thousands of Michigan households shut off from access to safe water and a $2 million fund to help these communities.
What we know is that water and public health are inseparable. Without water, we simply can’t fight this pandemic, let alone meet daily household hydration and sanitation needs. Much more work lies ahead to ensure everyone has access to safe, affordable water. Frontline communities like Detroit continue to be hardest hit by growing coronavirus cases, and we encourage you to support outstanding organizations providing households water, food, and community advocacy, including We the People of Detroit, People’s Water Board, Gleaners Food Bank, Brightmoor Food Pantry, and Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition.
While restoring water won’t happen overnight, Michigan’s leadership gives us hope because it is part of a nationwide trend to pause and, increasingly, ban water shutoffs. A 2016 nationwide assessment of water shutoffs for non-payment revealed that an estimated 15 million people in the United States experienced a water shutoff, a shocking 1 out of every 20 households. To date, 12 statewide orders restoring water service, which apply to private and public water providers, have been issued by the governors of California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Four of these states are in the Great Lakes Basin.
Accessing safe, affordable water is a struggle for too many people in this water-rich region that contains 20 percent of the planet’s fresh surface water. Many urban and rural communities already here are burdened with the highest water rates in the country, compounded by significant job losses, lack of diverse employment opportunities, shrinking populations, and crumbling infrastructure. The current public health crisis will only exacerbate this unacceptable problem where local ratepayers are expected to pay a disproportionate amount of their income for water service.
What we know is that water and public health are inseparable. Without water, we simply can’t fight this pandemic, let alone meet daily household hydration and sanitation needs. Much more work lies ahead to ensure everyone has access to safe, affordable water. Frontline communities like Detroit continue to be hardest hit by growing coronavirus cases, and we encourage you to support incredible organizations providing households water, food, and community advocacy, including We the People of Detroit, People’s Water Board, Gleaners Food Bank, Brightmoor Food Pantry, and Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition.
Securing Our Water Future and Demanding Justice and Equity in Rebuilding Our Water Systems.
This difficult time gives us a unique opportunity to decide what our water future looks like — a future that makes sure that the federal response to the pandemic and our water infrastructure crisis is both people-centered and rooted in justice. To this end, FLOW continues to work with People’s Water Board, Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, and Michigan Environmental Council on equitable financing solutions to rebuild our crumbling drinking water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure in Michigan. Every $1 billion in water infrastructure investment creates an estimated range of 20,000 to 26,000 jobs and can have far-reaching economic benefits, tripling in size with total demand for goods and services reaching an estimated $2.87 to $3.46 billion, according to the Clean Water Council.
In addition, FLOW also is partnering with a chorus of leading regional and national organizations and coalitions, including the Healing Our Waters (HOW) Coalition, Food & Water Action, and the U.S. Water Alliance, to demand the next federal coronavirus stimulus package contain robust instructure funding to end water shutoffs, promote job creation, and reinvest in our water systems like we did some 50 years ago.
Let us all work together to not just pause, but permanently ban, water shutoffs and demand equitable and sustainable solutions to fund and rebuild our water infrastructure. Consider signing this citizen petition authored by Food & Water Action urging Congress to stop water shutoffs during the pandemic crisis. Your voice makes a difference.
At the same time this crisis is exposing how fragile many of our societal systems are, it also is forcing us to identify what matters most: our health, our water, our natural and human-built communities, and our future resilience in the face of climate change impacts. At FLOW, we remain more committed than ever before to protecting and upholding these things that matter most to our shared future.
